The Philippine phlap . . . Though reports from Hickam...

March 09, 1986|By (By Michael Sneed and Kathy O`Malley.)

The Philippine phlap . . .

Though reports from Hickam Air Force Base have former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos strolling around with a law book, demanding privileges of a president in exile, U.S. State Department representative Pat Norton says, ``Marcos never acted in that manner at all.`` . . . The money-counting machine brought in to help count all those newly minted Philippine pesos--reportedly about 26 million of `em--brought in by the Marcos folks gave up the ghost after several million, leaving the task of counting the rest to U.S. Customs employees who had to finish the job by hand. . . . Some members of the homeless Marcos entourage have taken to calling themselves ``the plane people,`` a sort of high-rent version of ``the boat people.``

TV trivia . . .

Gladys Knight`s mother answered the phone last week when the wardrobe master for Tuesday`s ``People`s Choice Awards`` on CBS-TV called Gladys` Las Vegas home to get an idea of what she planned to wear for the show. According to mom, Gladys didn`t know what she would wear, because she hadn`t gone shopping yet, and she wouldn`t go shopping until after she ate her breakfast. . . . David Letterman hosting the Emmy Awards? Stranger things have happened. But not many. . . . An NBC-TV staffer, responding to INC.`s item stating that Danitra Vance ``could be happier`` with her role on ``Saturday Night Live,``

``The Mystery of Al Capone`s Vault`` have been unable to find a single photograph of the interior of the South Michigan Avenue hotel during its heyday in the `20s and `30s. Wouldn`t it be a stitch if they opened the vault for the live TV special on April 21--and the only thing in it was photographs of the hotel`s interior?

Media madness . . .

Jay Newman of WBBM-TV (Channel 2) went on vacation the week after the ratings ``sweeps,`` as TV station news directors often do. But while he was gone, he missed all the fireworks: the Wednesday resignation of station manager Ken Hall, who took a position with a media buying company, and the

``resignation`` two days later of vice president and general manager Gary Cummings, who, according to a press release, ``had not yet decided on his future plans.`` That`ll happen when your resignation sneaks up on you. A two- man ``interim management team`` has been brought in from New York to pick up the pieces. . . . Dr. Ruth (``As long as you use contraceptives``) Westheimer was unwilling to comment Friday on reports that her syndicated column had been dropped from the Sun-Times because Ann (``Girls just wanna be hugged``)

Landers objected. Pierre Lehu, Dr. Ruth`s public relations person, confirmed that the column had been pulled and said that, although he really didn`t know why, ``We have heard it`s because of Ann Landers. Her column is syndicated by the same people who own the paper, so that gives her a lot of clout, I guess. I really don`t know.`` Maybe not, Pierre, but INC. thinks your guess is probably pretty close.

Star tracks . . .

Cannon Films has signed Diane Keaton and Linda Evans to three-picture deals. . . . Barbra Streisand bought the film rights to ``The Normal Heart,`` a play about AIDS. Guess who will be directing. . . . The folks who were seated near porn queen Seka at Thursday`s opening of ``Big River`` might not be able to give you a whole lot of details about the musical because they were distracted every time adult film actress Seka and her escort expressed their affection in the French manner, if you get our drift. . . . ``BR`` composer Roger Miller`s new MCA album, due for an April release, will include several numbers from the musical. . . . Robert Blake says he`s ``going the distance`` for the eight-month, cross-country Pro-Peace March, which stepped off last weekend from Los Angeles. Blake and about 1,000 other marchers are scheduled to reach the California-Nevada border Monday and to hit Washington, D.C., in November, at which point the number of marchers is expected to reach 5,000.